156 Insect-Bait Fishing. 



a neater finish. File both at the back before 

 tying, and they will be more likely to keep their 

 position. An insect is impaled on each hook in 

 the same manner as before. With such a tackle 

 strike the instant you have reason to believe that 

 a trout has taken your bait : do not wait for the 

 tug at the rod-top, but let your eye guide you ; for 

 should the line be checked for a moment in its 

 progress down-stream, it is almost certain that a 

 trout has intercepted it, and then you cannot strike 

 too soon. This tackle, as well as the double tackle 

 given for fishing the May -fly under water, is 

 specially recommended to the young angler, who 

 in any kind of fishing is generally inclined to 

 strike before he ought. Here his characteristic 

 though pardonable haste will be more likely to 

 issue in gain than in loss. 



When using the creeper I always fish up with 

 either of the tackles just described, casting into the 

 eddies and edges of the roughish streams, as well 

 as in the broken water. The method is the same 

 as that employed in fishing with the May-fly or 

 the worm up-stream; and the creeper possesses 

 this advantage over the May-fly, that, being a more 

 hardy bait, it will both last longer and be less 

 likely to part company with the hook. The angler 

 is thus able to cast with greater freedom, and is saved 

 the necessity of renewing his bait so frequently. 



